NYC restaurant inspections: A Staten Islander's first-hand account

In 2003, I was appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to the New York City Board of Health. During my tenure on the Board, we have voted on numerous regulations and rules, some controversial.

View full sizeStaten Island Advance photoKeep it hot: The failure to keep food at the proper temperature is reason for a big deduction on city Health Department restaurant inspections.

However, the one area that seems to have received the most negative public comment and negative press is New York City's Restaurant Letter Grading Program.

I have heard countless stories of rude or otherwise inappropriate Department of Health restaurant inspectors -- sloppily dressed and conducting inspections that the complainants asserted were designed for the sole purpose of eliciting fines for New York City's benefit.

One month ago, I made a request to Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Thomas Farley that I be included as an observer during several routine restaurant inspections.

My goal was to see the relationship between the inspectors and the restaurateurs.

As human relations are my expertise, I wanted to observe what actually happens during those inspections.

On Monday, Feb. 27, I met an inspector promptly at 9 a.m. at a bakery in Brooklyn. I had chosen the borough and the day.

The inspector, wearing a tie, button-down shirt, and a DOHMH jacket entered the restaurant (with me in tow).

The restaurant displayed a grade of "A," posted on the front door, received from the previous inspection.

The inspector showed his credentials and introduced himself. The restaurant consisted of two rooms: An all-purpose cooking/storage room in the back and counters and display cases with the retail food products for sale and seating for about six in the store front.

Business continued unimpeded throughout the two-hour-plus inspection.

View full sizeAssociated PressRestaurant inspectors are vigilant for any signs of vermin.

The inspector was extremely respectful. He went about his inspection in a business-like manner. The owner followed him around while the inspector asked him questions about the operations.

SIGNS OF VERMIN

The owner was unable to produce proof of services of an exterminator since last summer. The inspector pointed out to the owner the numerous signs of roaches. The mouse traps contained no bait. There were fresh mouse droppings in numerous spots in the small kitchen area.

Custard pudding was presented in cups on the front counter, unrefrigerated.

According to the inspector's measurements, the temperatures in the heated display units were inadequate for the pastries containing cooked meat and chicken that were kept there.

In the course of conducting the inspection, the inspector told the store-owner and his wife, point by point, how to remediate each violation.

For example, the wife complained that if they kept the pastries at the required temperatures, they would get hard and could not be sold.

The inspector patiently explained and demonstrated how they could keep and maintain a time and temperature log for each food item in the display case.

He sketched a sample page.

While he was finishing his report on his computer, he discreetly (as there were customers present) called the owner to his seat and showed him that there was a roach crawling across the ceiling.

The owner climbed up and killed it.

The second restaurant, also with an "A" grade on the front door, was much larger.

We arrived at noon, which according to the DOHMH's records, was the restaurant's opening time.

Of the 20 or so tables in the dining room, there were three or four tables occupied by customers. The kitchen was in operation.

The dining area and the kitchen seemed immaculate.

Posted on the inside of the kitchen door was a list with directions to the cooks and kitchen staff about all of the sanitary procedures that should be followed during the hours of operation and at closing.

The inspector proceeded to take the temperatures of the food items in the trays in the commercial refrigerators.

The owner seemed as though he welcomed the inspection and proudly watched the inspector as he went about his business.

It was apparent that he put a substantial amount of time, effort and money into his operation, and it showed.

I did not notice until later that the kitchen operations ceased, even when we were nowhere near the kitchen.

Unfortunately, the door to one of the refrigerators in the kitchen had been left ajar overnight. All of the food items were substantially over the allowed temperature.

Although the restaurant-owner discreetly shut the door of that refrigerator with his leg as he entered the kitchen and noticed that the door was ajar, the inspector was thorough and caught the raised temperatures because he checked the food in every one of the several refrigerators.

It was at that point that the owner admitted that the door must have been left ajar overnight and that he shut it with his leg.

The basement storage areas were pristine. However, when we were walking through the basement, the inspector found fresh mouse droppings.

He explained to the owner that the onions, potatoes and other large bags of vegetables could be put into large plastic containers, which would not attract the vermin as did the burlap bags.

The inspector shimmied under one of the sinks and asked the restaurant owner to join him. The inspector pointed out, with his flashlight, the live roaches living under and behind the sink, not too far from the bags of vegetables.

INSPECTOR HELPFUL

During both inspections, for each citation, the inspector pointed out methods to remediate each of the problems that he saw.

When the owner of the second restaurant said that he would call in a repairman to check whether the refrigerator was working properly, the inspector said that was unnecessary because that was something he would do and there was no reason for the owner to spend the money.

When the employees in the second restaurant began discarding the over-temperature food and the containers that were in the refrigerator, the inspector stopped them and told them to put the dirty containers in the sink to be washed instead of discarding them, "Because they were expensive," he said.

He told the worker, "Wait, those cost money."

Throughout both inspections, the inspector never behaved in any manner that was rude or disrespectful. Even when one customer, who was a friend of the owner, yelled at him for closing the kitchen, he politely said that the DOH did not require the kitchen to be closed. That was the owner's decision.

The man yelled, "Restaurant inspections are only about raising money for the mayor."

The inspector did not respond. He never lost his composure and never varied from his polite and professional demeanor.

The inspector told both restaurant-owners that he would put in his reports the steps that they were already taking to remediate the violations. If they chose to request an Administrative Hearing and re-inspection, the Administrative Law judge could see that the owners were already correcting the violations.

I am grateful that I was given the opportunity to personally observe the inspections.

Dr. Kenneth Popler, a clinical psychologist, is the President and CEO of the Staten Island Mental Health Society, Inc. He participated in these restaurant inspections on his own time.